VANCOUVER, British Columbia — BC Ferries ignored warnings that it risked "catastrophic incidents" before one of its ships sank in March, killing two of the more than 100 people on board, according to a wrongful dismissal lawsuit filed by a former company executive.
The suit was filed by Darin Bowland, former chief of safety at BC Ferries, which operates services along Canada's Pacific Coast. He said he resigned for ethical reasons after the Queen of the North sank because senior management refused to fix safety problems or let him investigate the accident.
The ferry sank March 22 after hitting an island about 75 miles south of Prince Rupert in British Columbia's Inside Passage - a route along Canada's rugged West Coast that is traveled by thousands of cruise ship passengers each summer.
Ninety nine people were rescued in the accident, which occurred in the middle of the night, but two passengers are missing and presumed dead.
The cause is still under investigation, but the Transportation Safety Board said in a letter last month that the ship's bridge crew may not have known how to operate a newly installed steering and autopilot system.
Bowland, a cruise ship captain who joined the company in January, said in the suit filed Monday that he had warned the British Columbia government-owned company before the ferry sank "about the strong likelihood of catastrophic accidents if safety protocols and practices were not immediately improved."
He said he was discouraged from putting his concerns in writing, and alleges the company statement that he resigned after the accident for "personal reasons" was wrong and implied that he was partly responsible for the sinking.
BC Ferries declined comment on the lawsuit.
The company said in a financial report on Monday that it will received a C$67.9 million ($61.2 million) insurance payment because if the ferry sinking.
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